The First Shadows
by Hannah Lynn McDonald
Summary: 1966 - Adam meets Abigail


_October 1966_

* * *

He would die - he was certain of that. Perhaps if he were sent to the hospital soon and treated promptly and correctly he might survive; but he neither wished nor hoped for that. While it may be unhealthy, he saw no harm in dying as opposed to spending the weeks necessary to recuperate from the injuries. It would be painful and tiresome and a waste of the time of all those involved.

As he prayed that none would come and that the driver would remain unaware of the accident, he heard a screen door open and slam shut. As the footsteps paused and then carefully made their way across the lawn towards him, he sighed. When the person saw him, she gasped and hurried over, kneeling beside him; and he slowly tilted his head to see the relatively young lady that was competently checking his injuries. Her hands were as gentle as they could be, even as he wished to push them away.

She frowned when she had finished and leant back, looking him over again. He saw her start to rise; and he grit his teeth, reaching out to grasp her wrist. He knew he could not hold her forever - in fact, he could not hold her at all - but he hoped to distract her long enough to keep her from calling for help until it was too late for him.

"It will be alright - I must call for help. It will not be long."

He shook his head slightly, trying hard to ignore the wave of dizziness that rushed over him.

"You will die if I do no-"

"No." His grip loosened. "Do not call."

She didn't pull free, and he could see her mind fighting between the probable ending and what there was a miniscule chance for.

"Do not."

She narrowed her eyes, but then relaxed again beside him, twisting her wrist in his grasp to hold his hand. "What is your name?"

He blinked, thinking he had misunderstood. She knew that he was dying, and yet she still stayed beside him? Merely asking his name and holding his hand? "What are you doing awake?" He ignored her question.

She tilted her head to the side. "Remembering those that I knew once."

It didn't matter that he himself could look younger than many adults he met now, he still looked at the mortals as though they were children. Used to not looking in a mirror, he could see his age in his mind's eye, and he forgot that those he saw as innocent children still had the capacity to suffer immense loss in their short lives.

She smiled slightly, brushing a hair out of her eye. "I had simply come out to enjoy the night sky and saw you in the road."

He nodded slightly, letting his eyes fall shut and imagining the stars sparkling in the sky above him. Shivering, he realised that she was still with him. "You cannot stay."

"You just asked me to stay."

"Leave me be."

She sighed. "No - no one deserves to die alone. At the very least, I can be with you as you allow me nothing else."

"I would rather...be alone." He wished he could push her away, or leave himself.

"I was a nurse during the War - death is not something that offends my sensibilities."

He smiled slightly for a moment while shaking his head. "Go away..." He tried to pull his hand free from hers.

She considered him and then loosened her hold. "Do you truly want me to leave?"

Another death, bleeding out on the side of the road, shivering beneath a starry night he couldn't see again. Another death, fading away due to the stupidity of others, gasping alone. Another death, just like so many more before it - it would be the same as it always was and would be. Soon, the heat that she imparted to him through her hand would fade, and she would meet death like he had - only she wouldn't come back. She would forget the broken man she met once on a road, and he would disappear from her life. Another death alone, and another life would begin. "No."

* * *

He gasped, breaking through the frigid water and into the even colder air. Opening his eyes, he looked up into the bare branches of the trees around the river, lit by the grey light of dawn. Swimming forward, he realised that he must have lain unconscious longer than he expected he would.

"I would say that you could have told me, but I know that you never would have."

Standing in the shallower water, he froze at the voice, looking up to see the woman sitting on the bank. As she stood up and carried a woolen blanket down to him, he unconsciously stumbled back into deeper water.

She paused, and then resolutely wades into the water and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. "This is the only place you will reappear, and I'd rather not treat you for hypothermia with everything else."

He let her pull him towards the bank, letting the blanket drop down slowly to keep it dry. As he picked his way over the sharp stones, he half-considered pushing her into the water and holding her down. Terrified of a repeated occurrence of the beforetimes he had been discovered, his hands almost reached up to wrap around and twist her neck - so easy...

And yet, at the same time, he was curious. This complete stranger had sat with him in the cold until he died, ignoring her instinct to call for assistance in deference to his wishes. She had seen a dead body completely disappear, leaving no trace behind - and yet, she was completely calm and unfrightened. She was also not in shock, she was merely unsurprised. She was...familiar with this. Familiar enough to come prepared to the very place he reappeared.

Once they had stepped up the bank, she bent to pick up a pair of thick woolen socks. "I don't have any shoes - and do not know your size regardless - but these should allow you to walk safely."

He eyed them for a moment, and then carefully reached out and accepted them; pulling them on and ignoring her assistance.

"I've already a fire going in the house along with a kettle of tea - you are quite welcome to stay at my house and rest."

He stood still, watching her turn away and step up the hill, supposedly in the direction of her house.

When she realised he wasn't following, she sighed and turned back to face him. "I will never tell - your secret is as safe as if I never knew. As far as your condition, I never met you - but you may rest and be yourself without worry. You may stay with me as long as you like, or you may leave now if you wish." She watched him. "Whatever you decide, nothing else will happen."

He considered her, studying her. She was wary, but she wasn't frightened - she was relaxed. "How do you know not that I have another, familiar place to rest?"

Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "If you do, then it is alone. I can imagine ones ghosts come closer after dying." She held his gaze for a moment before shivering and pulling her coat tighter over her nightgown.

He looked around the forest, watching the wind blow through the higher branches and took a deep breath, consciously relaxing. "Charles."

She glanced up again. "I'm sorry?"

"My name - Charles will suffice."

She smiled. "I am Abigail, and I wish that we could have met under different circumstances."

"Perhaps in another life we would have met as enemies," he shrugged, and then glanced down as he pulled the blanket tighter. "Would you happen to have a set of garments to replace this blanket?"

She nodded, resuming her walk. "Yes, I've a few sets in the house."

He followed her through the forest, recognising all that was unsaid in her sentence. "perhaps chocolate as well?"

She turned to look at him in surprise, and then continued watching the path to keep from tripping. "Yes..."

He smiled slightly and answered her question: "Tea and chocolate can brighten any day, Miss Abigail."

She blinked, and then smiled. "Quite so, Charles - quite so.

* * *

 _AN: Instead of leaving Henry while in her seventies and working at the hospital, Abigail left in her early forties to die. Adam, instead of being hit by the deputy's car was hit by another vehicularists in the mid-Sixties, and dies in front of Abigail. She offers him friendship, and he accepts. AU from canon - obviously - but Adam is still hit by the deputy's car: Abigail is just long dead by then. His name is 'Charles Pendrick': 'Charles' from the name Æscheylas and 'Pendrick' from the name 'Pennus' and because I was watching_ Murdoch Mysteries _again. And my apology for all the inventions..._

 _This has been waiting since I saw the episode where Abigail's death was revealed, because I didn't want Adam to kill her - technicalities and all that fun stuff... Anyway, because Abigail died long before the events of that night, I can convince myself that this is possible. *smiles* However unlikely it is... And yes, Adam likes chocolate now - I was in a bad mood when I wrote this and_ _really_ _wanted some. Besides, I can't really see him moping around all day anymore._

 _It would be an interesting AU where Abigail and Adam became friends and she_ wasn't _dying of cancer._ _9-6-2015_


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